The Black
by ApacheTheWriter
Summary: A story of one man, as he gains and loses friends, rank, and limbs, and he travels the galaxy, fighting aliens that threaten the whole of humanity. Review this story, you bastards.


The Black

The door was still glowing red as the marine kicked it. With a crash, it fell to the floor. He activated his flashlight, and panned it around the interior of the Longsword. This fighter was in bad shape- plasma scoring along the entire left wing, the thruster gimble looking like Swiss cheese. He fully expected to see the same thing he always saw- dead bodies. It was gruesome work he did. He was part of the detail that recovered bodies from destroyed spacecraft. Or what was left of them anyway. He took a few cautious steps into the cabin of the Longsword. Just as he'd expected- two human corpses, their oxygen masks still attached to their faces. One man had a large piece of shrapnel embedded in his torso. He cringed slightly, but stomached it and grabbed the men's dog tags.

The tell-tale sound of an M6 sidearm cocking snapped the marine out of his stupor. He looked up. A man, dressed in a tattered flight suit, was slumped over the pilot's controls. He shakily held the pistol, pointing it at the marine. The man drew a ragged breath, and spoke softly. "I thought you may have been covenant. Good to see you, Marine."

The marine hurried over, taking notice of the emblem on the man's uniform- Chief Warrant Officer. The marine replied as he assessed the man's injuries. "No, sir, You're on the cruiser _Adriatic._ We recovered your fighter from the debris field."

"What's the date, Marine?"

The marine consulted his Tac-Pad. "October 27, 2552."

The man chuckled a bit. "Three days. Three days I've been out there." He suddenly began coughing, blood splattering onto his flight suit.

The marine hastily retrieved a canister of Biofoam, but the man waved him away.

"It's too late for me now anyway. That foam shit will just make it hurt worse."

"Sir…"

"I don't want to hear it, Marine. Tell me- is it over? Did we push them back?"

"Yes sir. We pushed them back. An armistice was signed this morning. The war is over, sir"

The man smiled. "I'm happy to have lived long enough to see it. Let me tell you a story, Marine, if you have the time."

The marine glanced back out into the expansive hangar bay. A large row of derelict fighters, Pelicans, and escape pods had to be checked still.

It could wait. This man was dying.

"Yes sir?"

The man pushed himself back up into the Pilot's chair.

"This is the story of how I got to be here."

"I was born on March 13, 2523, on the colony of Tribute. That's two years before these bastards started glassing worlds. Growing up, I remember watching the Holonet in the kitchen of my father's high-rise penthouse, seeing reports of some kind of aliens that were taking our worlds. But they never made it sound as bad as it really was. Casualty reports were always a billion less than they actually were. The other kids in school talked about it as well, about how we were kicking alien ass and about how they were going to surrender soon. The teachers didn't talk about it much- at least not until High School. By then there was an entire class devoted to war studies. I joined that as soon as it came out- I was as patriotic to the UNSC as they came. I suppose that was part of living in an Inner colony, but the idea of marching in uniform and blowing up aliens like it was a video game made me all fuzzy inside. The UNSC officer they had teach the class started being more realistic then about how the war was going, and that's where I had the idea of joining. I'd been off-planet only once, to visit family on Reach when I was ten. As the shuttle lifted off from the Casbah starport and we entered space, I remember looking out in awe at the Eradini Fleet doing excercise, Hundreds of Frigates, Cruisers, and a single huge Supercarrier, thousands of Longsword fighters screaming around in the vacuum. I knew then that I wanted to do that someday. Having the officer tell me about aliens and how they were killing people just brought those dreams back to life. I enlisted the week after high school graduation. I was just 18 years old. I took an automated taxi to the recruiter, signed my papers, and shook the recruiter's hand. For basic training, I was to be relegated to Reach. I made my way to Casbah Starport and, soon enough, the shuttle transitioned into slip space. There was no need for Cryo on a trip that short, so I spent my time reading about the war so far. They'd been sawing through the outer colonies- We'd lost Kholo a few months prior. By the time the announcement came over the PA that we had arrived at Reach, I was bound and determined that I would be part of the force to kick the Covenant off our worlds.

(A/N: Well, here's chapter one of the new story. I'm going in a new direction with this one, and I'm aiming to have this be a longer story. If you're one of four people that was following the other story I'm writing, worry not, I'll be working on that still. And Reviews please. There's nothing I like more than reviews.)


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